Plumbing work quoted from your phone

Plumbing work is priced where the water is. Under a sink with the cupboard door off, in a bathroom where the customer is standing next to you, at a boiler where you have to look before you can name a number. YellowTradie lets you say the job out loud and the priced quote writes itself before you leave the house.

The day, in the order it happens

The emergency call

The phone rings with water on the floor. You are on another job. The caller leaves a message and it is written out and sent to you. You read who it is and what is wrong without calling back blind. If they leave nothing you see that too.

The job priced before you leave

You are at the house. You look at the boiler, the cylinder, the pipe run and the valves that need changing. You say it out loud. Materials, labour by the day, travel time, the call out fee. Each line goes into its own place and the total is worked out as you speak. You check the form and tap Make quote. The draft is ready to send from the van.

The certificate the customer wants is yours to give

The customer asks for the paperwork that goes with the work. That is your own record of what was done and the signature to go with it. The job keeps the address, the notes, the photographs and the costs, and the customer signs off on the bill link. The app keeps the record. The certificate is your work.

The bill before you drive home

The leak is fixed, the pipe is clipped, the floor is back down. You open the finished job and the next step is Invoice it. The bill carries the lines from the quote, the VAT you set, your bank details and the invoice number as the payment reference. You send the PDF and the link before you move off.

The boiler they supplied themselves

Some jobs are labour only. You still quote the work, still keep the day and the address, still photograph the finished run. The materials line shows what you fitted, and the receipt is your own if you bought the fittings. The bill is priced the same way.

The quote you sent on Tuesday

It is still on Sent. The customer has not answered. On Home it shows when it is quiet, and when it has expired the chase card appears with your words, the bank details, the reference and the sign-off already in it. You send it. Nothing goes on its own.

What plumbers need in one place

Your quote, built from speech

Open a quote and tap Talk. Say the customer, the address, the work and the price in any order. Finished sentences are read one by one and each line files itself into its own place. You can type into the same form and you can mix the two. Nothing is saved until you tap Make quote.

A priced quote the customer can answer

Send the quote and the customer gets a link. They press Approve or Decline, with a comment if they want changes. The answer comes back to your phone. Approval creates the job from the same details.

The job that keeps the record

The job holds the address, the day, the quote that made it, the invoice, the expenses, the timesheet, the photographs and the spoken notes. The address card lets you call the customer or open a map for the job. A job is Not Started until its start date, In Progress from that date, and Completed only when you press Finish job.

Photos of the work

Before and after the pipe run, the boiler front on and off, the floor lifted and back down. The photographs live on the job and stay on your phone.

A bill from the job

Invoice it from an accepted quote or from a finished job. The PDF and the customer's link both show your bank details and the reference. Part payments are kept and the balance is what the Home screen and the chase use. The customer can confirm the work is done on the bill link while it is unpaid and unsigned.

A deposit that protects you

Set the deposit on the quote. The customer sees the deposit and the balance when they approve. Raise the deposit bill when they say yes, and the balance when the work is done. Each has its own reference and the chase follows what is still owed.

Chasing what is still owed

When a sent invoice is past its due date, the chase card appears on Home. The message asks for the balance and it carries the bank details and the reference and the link. The wording firms up each time and you choose when to send.

Your money without the spreadsheet

Every payment is a row in the log with the date, the amount, the method and the bill it settled. A refund is a negative row so the cash in figure is the sum of the log. VAT sits on the quote and the bill and in the quarterly report. Tax and Making Tax Digital are on the tax pages.

Details that save a return visit

A note you speak on the job

Say what you found under the floor. The note is saved against the job, spoken or typed, and it stays with the address.

Labour from your hours

Log hours on the job and they come into the invoice as a labour line. A job with no quote still gets its hours billed.

A receipt you photograph

Take a picture of the receipt and set the category. The cost is filed against the job. The photograph leaves the phone only when you ask the app to read it.

One tap to call or map

You can call or open a map straight from the job. You do not have to copy the address into another app.

What it does not do

• It does not issue a compliance certificate. We do not issue gas records or any other compliance certificate. The job keeps your record and the invoice that carries it. The certificate is your work.
• It does not send a quote or a bill on its own. You write it, you send it, and you send the chase.
• It does not keep a rate card and fill in your prices. The figures are the ones you say.
• It does not hold customer card numbers. Bank transfer is your own details on the bill. Card, when live, is taken on your phone with the customer in front of you.
• It does not take a payment on the customer's link. The customer pays you directly and you record it.
• It does not keep the records in the cloud. The jobs, quotes, invoices and photographs are on your phone.

Questions

Can I quote a bathroom on site with the customer next to me?

Yes. Walk the room and say the job. The quote fills itself line by line. Check the total, add VAT where it applies, and send the link before you leave the house.

The customer wants a record of the boiler work. Does the app write it?

No. The app is not a record writer for compliance. It keeps the job record and the bill that goes with it. The record you give the customer is yours.

I bought the valves and the customer wants labour only. Can I still quote it?

Yes. Quote the labour and any materials you supplied. A customer supplied boiler does not stop you quoting the fitting work and the small parts.

How do deposits work?

Set the deposit on the quote. When the customer approves, the job is created with the deposit and the balance shown. Raise the deposit bill from the quote and the balance bill from the finished job. Each has its own reference.

What if the customer pays part of the bill?

Record what they paid. The bill shows the money in and the balance. The chase and the Home totals follow what is still owed.

Related

• The six trades: pick the trade that is yours.
• Quote by talking: speak the job and the form fills itself.
• Quotes: the priced document and the customer's answer.
• Invoices: the bill that comes from the job.

Join the list

The app is not in the shops yet. Join the list and we will tell you the day it opens. £19.99 a month, 14 days free, card needed.